With Salah – who has been battling a shoulder injury – watching on from the sidelines, Egypt's approach was largely compact and somewhat rugged and the first chance came as Cavani worked El-Shenawy from 20 yards.

Suarez should have fired Uruguay in front at the midway point of the first half, but, when the ball dropped his way from a corner, he screwed a close-range effort into the side-netting.

Uruguay continued to labour in the attacking third before the break, while a healthy Egyptian contingent had only Salah's appearance on the stadium's big screen to cheer.

Suarez and his team-mates were quickly back on the front foot following the restart, though, and Cavani fed his strike partner for a low drive that El-Shenawy blocked bravely.

The Barcelona forward squandered another opportunity late on, forcing his way through the Egypt backline but failing in his attempt to round the goalkeeper.

And El-Shenawy again looked to have preserved a point with a sublime save from Cavani's thunderous volley, before the Uruguay attacker curled a free-kick against the post.

But Gimenez came to the rescue as he planted a header into the bottom-right corner, earning a hard-fought victory.

2 - Uruguay defender José Giménez has now scored in consecutive appearances for the national team (also against Uzbekistan). Breakthrough. #EGYURU#URU#WorldCup
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 15, 2018

Key Opta stats:

- Uruguay have won their opening match at a World Cup tournament for the first time since 1970, when they beat Israel.

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- Egypt are still winless at the World Cup finals, failing to win five matches (D2 L3).

- Jose Gimenez's winning goal in the 90th minute was Uruguay's latest winning goal in a World Cup match since Daniel Fonseca's 92nd-minute winner against South Korea in June 1990.

- This was Oscar Tabarez's 16th World Cup match in charge of Uruguay – only one manager has managed more matches for a South American country at the World Cup (Mario Zagallo for Brazil, 20 games).